Most comprehensive Nazım Hikmet exhibition to open in İzmir
İZMİR
The exhibition will present Nazım Hikmet’s life, literary works and cultural legacy.
Türkiye’s most comprehensive exhibition on renowned poet and writer Nazım Hikmet will open in the western province of İzmir on Sept. 5 as part of the 95th İzmir International Fair.
Titled “Romantika / A Journey Through a Lifetime,” the exhibition is hosted by İzmir Municipality and produced by Folkart. It will bring together the poet’s life, literary works and cultural legacy through a multidimensional presentation.
Organized by İZFAŞ, the exhibition will be held at the Culturepark Atlas Pavilion. Curated by architect and Nazım Hikmet researcher M. Melih Güneş, with exhibition design by Ömer Durmaz of Dokuz Eylül University, the show approaches Hikmet’s life beyond a conventional biography.
Covering approximately 2,125 square meters across 15 halls, including the foyer, the exhibition brings together hundreds of documents, manuscripts, personal belongings and audiovisual records from individuals, institutions, archives and collections in Türkiye and abroad. Works spanning literature, painting, sculpture, photography, film and design will also be featured.
The exhibition takes its name from “Romantika,” the original title Nazım Hikmet chose for his final autobiographical novel, “It Is a Wonderful Life, My Brother,” completed in 1962.
Archives from the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, the Nazım Hikmet Culture and Art Foundation, the Moscow Nazım Hikmet Culture and Art Foundation and the Ara Güler Archive and Research Center were made available for the exhibition.
The exhibition also features materials from Vera Tulyakova Hikmet’s archive and works from collector Gürkan Us, alongside works by artists including Abidin Dino, Avni Arbaş, Doris Kahane, Natalia Goncharova and Jak İhmalyan. Young Turkish artist Sedat Girgin has also created a work specifically for the exhibition.
Some paintings made by Nazım Hikmet himself will also be displayed.
The exhibition will remain open until Jan. 15, 2027.
A door opening in İzmir
Folkart Chairman Mesut Sancak said the company considers contributing to İzmir’s cultural and artistic life an important responsibility.
“A city’s identity is shaped not only by its buildings, roads and squares but also by its memories, artists, writers and stories,” Sancak said.
He described the exhibition as a journey into Hikmet’s entire life through a door opened in İzmir.
“Romantika is the name Nazım Hikmet initially chose for his final autobiographical novel, ‘It Is a Wonderful Life, My Brother.’ This name has a very special meaning for an exhibition on Nazım Hikmet opening in İzmir,” he said.
Curator M. Melih Güneş noted that “Romantika” is not a conventional biographical exhibition.
“We are not claiming to tell Nazım Hikmet’s life through a complete chronology of dates and events,” Güneş said. “Documents, personal belongings, manuscripts, letters and artworks from different collections allow us to create a much more layered narrative.”
“Each document bears witness not only to a life but also to a way of thinking, a body of literature and an era,” he added. “With ‘Romantika / A Journey Through a Lifetime,’ we are telling the story not of a life completed by death but of a lifetime that continues to live through its works, books and cultural legacy.”
“Nazım Hikmet: Romantika / A Journey Through a Lifetime” will open at the Culturepark Atlas Pavilion on Sept. 5 as part of the 95th İzmir International Fair and remain on display until Jan. 15, 2027.